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Hitachi Delivers the ``Easy Hard Drive'' to ConsumersSAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Intending to capitalize on the growing personal USB-attached storage segment of the hard disk drive (HDD) market, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) today announced an expanded retail strategy with the launch of Hitachi-branded personal storage products: External USB Storage and Portable USB Storage. These products will be sold through Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the U.S. Available on June 3, 2007 in Best Buy stores, Hitachi's external storage products make it easy for consumers to have expanded storage capacity for saving and backing up their most important digital content including video, music and photos. Hitachi's USB storage, coined the "easy hard drive," features a range of capacities including the industry's first one terabyte(1) (TB) in a single HDD and a quarter terabyte in the portable product. Both products come with fast USB connectivity and pre-installed software, making it quick and easy for users to connect and back up their digital content. The External USB Storage product also comes with a power adapter. The Portable USB Storage product is powered through the USB cable and requires no separate power source. "Personal USB-attached storage products represent a burgeoning and healthy segment of the hard disk drive market and we are forecasting that it will continue to grow into the next decade," said John Monroe, research vice president, Storage Markets at Gartner. "Consumers who purchase personal storage products are more often opting for higher capacities. People generally want multiple copies of the irreplaceable 'family photo album' and a large hard disk drive gives them sufficient storage space for the device to serve as a repository for the entire household's digital content." With the launch of the USB storage products, Hitachi has expanded its participation in the retail market adding to its current line of internal hard drive upgrade kits. It had previously partnered with other vendors for personal storage products. "Consumers' enthusiasm for creating and sharing digital content is driving a huge demand for personal storage products that they can use to expand their capacity and back up their most valued data," said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "The time is right for Hitachi to enter this growing segment with our own branded products. By teaming with Best Buy, we have an opportunity to reach those digital content enthusiasts whose appetites for storage exceed what's available today. Our one-terabyte and quarter-terabyte personal storage products can satisfy even the most capacity-hungry consumer." The Personal Era of Storage Hitachi is helping to set the stage for the Personal Era of storage, where personalized digital content is readily accessible, searchable and retrievable-any time, anywhere. With the advent of social networking sites, downloadable movies and video distribution over the Internet, consumers' desire to have instant access to their data-to store, view and share-means that greater storage capacity is a necessity. One no longer needs to ask, "What would I do with all of that space?" With the ability to store massive amounts of data on a one-terabyte personal storage device-up to 1000 hours of standard-definition video or over 300,000 digital photos-these rich media enthusiasts can continue to create and share content at an expansive rate. By offering a range of capacities-1TB, 750GB and 500GB in the External USB Storage product and 250GB, 200GB and 160GB in the Portable USB Storage product-Hitachi gives consumers a variety of options to address their individual storage needs. Both models of the "easy hard drive" come with pre-installed back-up software and the External USB Storage product features one-button back up. The same back-up software on the Portable USB Storage device can be launched on the user's PC or Mac(TM). Hitachi's USB storage products require a USB port (2.0 or 1.1) and Windows(R) 2000/XP, Windows Vista(TM) operating system or Mac OS X. Capacities, Pricing and Availability Hitachi's USB storage products are available beginning June 3, 2007 at all Best Buy stores or on the Web at bestbuy.com. Hitachi External USB Storage -- Includes a USB 2.0 cable, power supply, pre-installed back-up software and one-button back up and quick-start guide -- 1TB / 750GB / 500GB -- One-year warranty Hitachi Portable USB Storage -- Includes a USB 2.0 cable, pre-installed back-up software and quick-start guide -- 250GB(2) / 200GB / 160GB -- One-year warranty (1) 1 GB = one billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less (2) 250GB capacity available at bestbuy.com only About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a storage technology leader, founded in 2003 through the combination of Hitachi's and IBM's hard disk drive businesses. Hitachi GST enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value hard disk storage in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home. With its legacy in hard drive invention, Hitachi GST led the industry in celebrating the storage technology's golden anniversary in 2006. The hard drive has had a profound effect on the computing and consumer electronics industries after five decades of innovation. That heritage lives on at Hitachi GST today through products that define the standard for hard drive miniaturization, capacity, performance and reliability. With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi GST offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at www.hitachigst.com. About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TOKYO: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 384,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2006 (ended March 31, 2007) consolidated revenues totaled 10,247 billion yen ($86.8 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com. |
